‘Night and day a different player’: Why the future is bright for de Minaur

Alex de Minaur was wounded in the aftermath of his latest fourth-round exit from the Australian Open.

After failing to win a set in his previous two round-of-16 losses at Melbourne Park to Jannik Sinner then Novak Djokovic, this time was different – and not just because of the opponent.

Alex de Minaur dug deep against Andrey Rublev in the fourth round of the Australian Open, but it wasn’t enough.Credit: Eddie Jim

De Minaur weathered big-hitting Russian Andrey Rublev’s early storm and absorbed extraordinarily high pressure and intensity to be within striking distance of the quarter-finals at two-sets-to-one up.

Australian tennis’s standard-bearer fronted the media afterwards believing he had physically beaten Rublev at that point of the match, making his eventual five-set defeat even tougher to swallow.

We saw de Minaur’s girlfriend, British player Katie Boulter, attempt to console him in an emotion-charged peek behind the scenes while he warmed down on an exercise bike, followed by him burying his head in a towel.

The 24-year-old will need to wait to join the Australian Open’s Last Eight Club, but the evidence is irrefutable that de Minaur’s upgraded, emboldened game has made him a force on the ATP Tour.

No longer, or at least not as much, will the tour’s top dogs bully him across the court or wipe him “like a windscreen from side to side”, as Australian great Wally Masur put it pre-tournament.

De Minaur still did plenty of chasing on Sunday night, and that will remain a strength throughout his career, but what’s changed is he does his share of dictating now, too.

De Minaur held his own in the baseline battle with Rublev – finishing with more winners and fewer unforced errors, although he significantly lost the crucial 0-4 shot rallies – and his willingness to step inside the baseline, take greater risks and adopt a more aggressive approach generally was obvious.

“I think night and day a different player,” de Minaur said of his evolution.

“Maybe a couple of years ago, or even last year, I would be sitting here, maybe even happy with the result, saying, ‘I probably shouldn’t have won, he’s higher ranked than I am, I took him to five sets, pretty decent effort’.

“But it’s completely changed because now I’m sitting here, and I’m absolutely devastated because I saw it as a great opportunity and a match that I strongly believed I could have won, but it just slipped away.”

De Minaur spoke in the lead-up to the Rublev showdown about how he had to be more aggressive against the tour’s best, and he went out and did it. Words are easy, actions are hard.

This growth in his game, under coach Adolfo Gutierrez’s watch, is a long time in the making. He is both physically and mentally stronger.

Alex de Minaur was close, but not close enough, to Andrey Rublev. Credit: Eddie Jim

Since ending his drought against top-five rivals with his defeat of Daniil Medvedev at the Paris Masters in late 2022, he has made a habit of beating the best. De Minaur boasts nine top-10 scalps since the start of last year – and Rublev was very nearly his 10th.

Roland-Garros is his next chance to contest a major but that event, on Parisian clay, always projects as his most difficult to thrive. He is sure to be a threat to make it deep at Wimbledon and the US Open.

That will come later. For now, de Minaur will briefly go into reflection mode about a summer that did not end how he wanted it to but that still continued his positive trajectory.

He will slip outside the top 10 after the Australian Open after climbing into that territory for the first time this month thanks to his wins over Taylor Fritz, world No.1 Novak Djokovic and Alex Zverev.

But that is a temporary setback to de Minaur’s longer-term ambition, which remains on track.

“It is a bit disappointing [but] in due time, I’ll take the three top-10 wins at United Cup, I’ll take it as confidence,” he said.

“Even this match, I’m playing some great tennis. It’s the start of the year. Importantly, if I can keep this level throughout the whole year, I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to finish where I want to.”

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